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Saturday, 19 November 2011

Atleast we didn't lose...

1-1 the game finished. We didn't deserve anymore than a point today, and we were lucky to even get that! The game started with quite a positive approach from the players, keeping possession and playing it along the ground quite nicely. Maccelsfield however looked poor tbh. They hoofed the ball like a league 2 Stoke. Long throw-ins and Set pieces kept on coming and the only way they got the ball into the box. Their game plan worked though with them breaking the deadlock on the 17th Minute part, a corner whipped in with Macclesfield's centre back Brisley heading past Dunbavin. He did take it well though, breaking away from the Stanley marker and heading in with great accuracy and power, giving Dunbavin little chance.

From then we looked a beaten team, struggling for pace and power up top meant the ball kept coming back. There were no more clear chances in the first half though, giving us a chance to re-group and come out a different team.

The start of the second half didn't show much hope either, with the home side completely dominating possession and peppering our goal line. Credit to our defence, they kept us in the game and must have broke down at least 20 of their attacks. We did however make 2 decent chances, Procter was about a cm away from heading the ball into the net. And Hughes took a shot from outside the box, to which their goalkeeper made a decent save to his right and putting it out for a corner.

Colemanthen performed a magic trick, Bringing 2 strikers on (Amond and Stockley) for 2 midfielders (Barnett and Hughes). Playing a 4-3-3 for the last 15 minutes of the game. It worked, oh yes it worked. 78 minutes on the clock, ball bouncing around in the box until Stockley got the ball and turned past the first defender, took a touch away from the second defender, and slided it into the Left hand corner of the goal. A wonderful controlled finish, from what was an awful performance by him last Saturday he certainly made up for it then!! From that moment it was any body's game, proper end to end stuff. There were many chances for both teams but no-one could get a shot away, 5 minutes time were added and Stanley gave away a silly free kick on the edge of the box, which Macclesfield booted in causing panic in the box until someone eventually got it clear.

Fair play to the lads today but were still struggling for some sort of killer edge. I dont think the 4-2-3-1 formation is working this season because we dont have such attacking midfielders this season(Ryan,Mcconville etc). Stockley's finish was brilliant and i also thought Long and Hessey were absloutely emense today. Looking at the league table now, we are starting to create a gap from the bottom. (7 points clear of relegation zone). We will have to play better next saturday but signs are still pointing in the right direction!